Legal and institutional issues for the management of electronic records at an archival institution in Zimbabwe

Abstract

This study examined the institutional and legal issues in managing e-records at the National Archives of Zimbabwe (NAZ). The NAZ developed a Public Sector Digital Records Management Framework in 2018 in response to the need to manage e-records at the national level. However, the implementation of this framework is yet to be realised. Besides this digital framework, the NAZ also operates within the framework of the National Archives of Zimbabwe Act [Chapter 25:06] of 1986, as amended by Act 22 of 2001. This amendment did not fully address the issues of digital records management; hence, the digital framework needs to align with the national legislation. Electronic records management is new to most records officers and archivists and requires an institutional and legal framework; training; guidance on policy implementation and standard operating procedures. The pragmatism of the electronic records management system has been described as a revolution that has dominated and challenged the traditional paper record-keeping system. Data was collected from interviews with key participants, complemented by document reviews of the NAZ Act and the Public Sector Digital Records Management Framework. For analysis it was organised into broad themes and reported in a narrative form. The researchers used an emergent framework to code and categorise the data and group them into themes. The study found that records managers and archivists at the NAZ are still grappling with the advent of electronic records management in terms of legislative, policy and skills requirements. The study recommends that the NAZ should first address institutional and legal issues such as the allocation of resources; development of implementation strategies of the framework; standard operating procedures for the whole public sector; skills training and the amendment of the NAZ Act for effective management of electronic records. The study deepens the understanding of electronic records management, and records managers and archivists at the NAZ can use to implement and manage e-records at national level properly.